THE FOOD PROBLEM IN GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2685, 3 February 1916, Page 5

THE FOOD PROBLEM IN GERMANY

SYNTHETIC EDIBLES "STONE FUNGUS FOR NO-MEAT DAYS

B.v Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright London, February 1. How Germany is compelled to find substitute foods is exposed in a striking article in the "Daily Chronicle." The writer, after a close examination of German newspapers, republishes advertisements of synthetic foods, and also reveals tho high prices current. Tea is from 3s. 7d. to Bs. per pound. Thcro are various substitutes for - coffee, including acorn coffee. Sunflower oil replaces olive oil, and there is a wonderful array of artificial honeys. In the "Berliner Tageblatt" there aro advertisements of three kinds of honey fluid, and powder. Jam powder is sold in packets. One firm gives this recipe for honey: Two pounds of sugar, a half-pint of water, and a packet of salus powder. The result is honey as good as bees', honey. Pohl, of Berlin, offers substitutes for eggs, sausages, and honey. A Munich paper advertises that "for fleshless days we recommend A 1 sorted stone fungus." Hundreds of advertisements of wooden shoes show there is a shortage of leatllier. _ Imitation flannel and canvas is offered in many advertisements. Buyers are offering'high prices for fats. Eeuter's correspondent at Amsterdam states that the German Minister for Commerce (Herr Sydow) lias instructed local aut'liorities throughout the country to prohibit popular slaughter fetes, at which farmers lcilled fatted swine.

pharlottenburg, home of so many ideals, claims the honour of affording a means of exorcising from Germany the ■bony spcctl-e of famine. There are so many sceptics in Germany, however, that lier offer has fallen on deaf -ears, so the "Vossische Zeitung" lias begun a publicity campaign on her behalf. "Nutritious, cheap, and tasty," it says, "these are the three conditions that are essential to-day to the food ivhiclj is to sustain the people. All these desiderata will be fouud in combination at the 'headquarters of the Charlottenburg Society for Housewives. There, ranged on •long white-decked tables, adorned with' plants and green leaves, is exhibited an assortment of soups, roasts, salads, fish meals, and desserts, many of which are not what they seem, but very clever substitutes of equal food value. There are soups made of soya bean flour, as nourishing as tlie finest puree; innumerable cutlets, chops, and beefsteaks, etc., composed entirely of the carbo-hyd-rates extracted from fruits, and of a deliciously meaty flavour; ' there are dozens of different kinds of cakes and pastry, made with imitation eggs, and dessert dishes composed of fruits, gela. tine, and milk substitutes."

The "Hamburger Nachrichten" publishes a vigorous appeal by a Professor Mehner not to burn old newspapers and other paper waste, which, he says, can be turned to tho best account in other ways. He calls attention in the first place to the recent issue of a Government notice against tho use of straw as litter for horses and pigs. Straw, it was pointed out, is very largely used for fodder. Loosely orumpled paper, says the-professor, can be used as litter for horses and pigs. The professor, however, does not stop here, for he declares that processes may be applied which will make paper itseif available as fodder. "And so wo come to tliis," he says, "that the .masses of old, newspapers which have already fed men's minds in town and country will then feed cattle, and that old brown paper and • cardboard boxes will yield milk and beefsteak."

MORE SERIOUS IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY ' , Zurich, February 1. iiio rood problem, is bc-coniing more serious in Austria-Hungary. Over 45,000 people are receiving free meals m Vienna daily. Butter is 3s. Gd., margarine 2s. Bd.j and lard! 3s. 4d. per lb. THE FALLING VALUE OF THEIR CURRENCY. SHADOW OF IMPENDING BANKRUPTCY. ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Serv ices.) (Rec. February 2, 5.5 p.m.) Lomlcn, February 1. A neutral correspondent states that tho German people are concerned about the falling value of the mark. "They think it better to lose 45 per cent, of their money now than more later, and consequently neutral countries latterly have been flooded with Gorman money, still further depreciating the exchange! There is also some apprehension regarding' Germany's financial ability to recognise her war loans after the war, and the possibility of national Jbankruptcy is more openly dkeussed, replacing the previous talk about a huge indemnity. lhe morale of the people has "undoubtedly deteriorated, permeating the whole nation. The want of indispensable necessities is influencing the poor While the well-to-do dread the unknown future. The German people will be more than heroic and less than human if they are able to stand the ever-increasing pressure for another year."